1. Technical Field:
The present invention relates to an improved guide and restraint system for flexible hoses and cables employed on telescoping boom machines, such as aerial work platforms.
2. The Prior Art:
In the prior art, flexible carrier track arrangements for hoses and cables found on telescoping boom machines are known. However, such prior art systems have been severely limited by the inability of the flexible track element to be unsupported in the system over more than a limited length of approximately twenty-nine feet in the case of the largest cross section flexible track suitable for use on telescoping booms. Smaller cross section flexible track is even more severely limited in terms of its maximum unsupported length which will resist buckling or collapsing under load.
Various constructions have been proposed in the prior art to assist in supporting either the upper or lower stretch of a flexible carrier track used to support hoses and cables on a multi-section telescoping boom. However, none of the prior art proposals has successfully dealt with the above inherent limitation of the flexible track whereby the track cannot adequately support itself over distances greater than about twenty-nine feet. Accordingly, it is a main object of the present invention to remove this limitation of the prior art through the provision of a single power track sytem for hoses and cables of telescoping boom machines in which a flexible track having a length substantially greater than twenty-nine feet is successfully employed.